Insurance for travelers abroad: reviews, rating of companies

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Those who often travel outside the country know for sure that taking out an insurance policy is not a whim, but a severe necessity. After all, the traveler breaks out of his usual environment, and the policy will help him feel safe in a foreign country. What does travel insurance include? Reviews of those who have already taken out such insurance, of course, will help you make the right choice. But it would be useful to find out in more detail what features of this type of insurance need to be provided for and how much such a “pleasure” will cost.

Features of "foreign" insurance

When you travel, remember: you will not be allowed into any country in the world if you do not have an insurance policy. It is this document that guarantees that if something happens to you in a foreign land, then transport services and timely medical assistance will be provided to you immediately and in full. So accept that overseas travel insurance is a must, and even if you are sure that nothing can happen to you, you still need to take out a policy.

There are different types of insurance, and their cost depends on many factors. Therefore, before paying your hard-earned money to a particular company, you need to carefully study the proposed conditions.

Insurance risks

All policies offered by insurance companies can be divided into two large groups - the standard option and the elite class. The whole difference lies in the completeness of the set of risks covered.

In the standard package you will be offered:

• reimbursement for urgent treatment in the event of an insured event;
• free transportation to a nearby hospital, and, if necessary, delivery of the patient to the country of permanent residence, accompanied by doctors;
• provision of medical services on the spot (in the host country), outpatient treatment, hospitalization if necessary;
• reimbursement of the cost of medicines prescribed by the attending physician;
• emergency dental services;
• repatriation of the insured in the event of his death.

In addition to all the above items, the "elite" set of insurance risks can include:

• return home and reimbursement of the cost of tickets in cases recognized as an insured event;
• early interruption of the trip in the event of the death of a close relative, reimbursement of the cost of tickets at the expense of the insurance company;
• visiting the insured by one of the relatives (tickets at the expense of the insurance) in case of hospitalization in the host country for more than10 days;
• delivery to the place of permanent residence of children (under 16 years old) of the insured person, accompanied by a company employee in cases where the insured is hospitalized for more than 10 days;
• additional accident insurance;
• compensation for other risks associated with the trip - loss of luggage, lawyer services, eviction from the hotel for any reason and others.

Please note that insurance for pregnant women traveling abroad is also often not included in the standard set of services and is paid extra. Also, the risks associated with extreme types of recreation are additionally paid.

Insurance amount

In order for the insurance of travelers abroad to be of the highest quality and competent, it is necessary to remember one more important detail, namely, the maximum possible amount of compensation for losses.

This figure depends on where exactly you are going. For the Schengen countries, this amount should be at the level of 30 thousand euros. For Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, where, as you know, medical services are much cheaper, the amount of 15 thousand dollars may be sufficient. But if you are going to countries where medicine is very expensive, for example, to Japan, the USA, Australia or Canada, then you should take out insurance for at least 50-70 thousand dollars.

Based on the cost of medicine in the host country, insurers usually group their offers like this:

• countriesSchengen;
• other European countries;
• CIS states;
• Egypt;
• Turkey;
• the whole world (excluding the CIS, Australia, Japan, Canada and the States);
• the whole world.

Age

Another criterion by which the insurance of travelers abroad is divided is the age of the insured. Depending on this indicator, companies divide their customers as follows:

• up to a year;
• 1-3 years;
• 4-15 years;
• 16-64;
• 65-75 years;
• over 75 years.

It is noteworthy that from the first to the fourth point, the cost of insurance decreases, and starting from the fifth, it increases significantly. Travelers aged 16 to 64 will pay the minimum amount for the services of an insurance company, but people over 75 will have to fork out.

What is assistance

A very important point in such a matter as insurance for travelers abroad is the presence of an assistance company in the host country. What does this mean?

Assistance is a partner of the local insurance company that will take care of you in the host country. If something happened to you on vacation, then ensuring the provision of medical care, delivery to the hospital, payment for medicines, and so on - these are all their concerns. So when choosing an insurance company, pay attention not only to whether they have a foreign partner, but also to the possibility of providing this very partner with Russian-language support.

If your assistanceno insurance, then you will have to solve all the problems in a foreign country on your own. Well, if you have sufficient knowledge of the language for this and a solid amount of free cash. And if not? You will be able to receive a refund of the cost of your expenses only upon arrival at home, and even then - if you can provide documents from foreign medical institutions with all the proper seals and signatures.

The price of insurance - what does it depend on?

As we have already found out, the price of a policy may depend on many indicators - the spread of numbers is quite wide. It all depends on what kind of risks you want to protect yourself from, how old you are and where you are going. Also, the price of insurance is affected by the presence and "coolness" of the assistance company and the timing of the trip.

In addition, the price of the policy is quite strongly influenced by the purpose of the trip: if you intend to lie quietly on the beach, this is one thing, and if you plan to skydive or snowboard, it is completely different. Another point on which the cost of the policy depends is the presence of a deductible, that is, such an amount (minimum) that the insurance company will not cover. For example, if you have a deductible of $500 in your contract, and the treatment cost $499, then no one will return anything to you.

Taking into account all the above indicators, the cost of an insurance policy for tourists can vary from a couple of hundred to several tens of thousands of rubles.

Insurance for traveling abroad - rating of companies, what it affects

When going abroad and looking for a company where you can buy a policy, you should focus only on the most proven and largest. In small firms, of course, insurance can cost literally a penny, but real help from them, in which case, you are unlikely to wait.

So you've decided to take out travel insurance. The rating of the leading insurance companies in this area will help you. After analyzing the activities of most of them, you can make a list like this:

• "INTOUCH insurance".
• Jasco.
• Ingosstrakh.
• "RESO-Garantia".
• IC PPF Life Insurance;
• Sberbank;
• "VSK".
• Sogaz.
• "VTB".
• Rosgosstrakh.
• Uralsib.

Of course, this list is somewhat subjective, each of the clients can make their own, and will be right. Each of them has both its disadvantages and advantages. For example, Sberbank (like many other companies) offers insurance for traveling abroad without leaving home, using the service on the company's website.

How to identify a good insurer

First of all, you should personally visit the office of the chosen organization and make sure that the company has all permits and licenses for the right to carry out this particular type of insurance.

Carefully study the list of services offered - the wider it is, the better. Choosea list of risks that is optimal for you, but do not overdo it with refusals. It will be a shame if something happens to you that is not covered by insurance. In this case, you should not expect reimbursement of expenses.

Study the contract well, especially those places in it that are written in small print. Feel free to ask the manager a lot of questions - you must clearly understand what you can expect if something happens to you.

Choose only large trusted insurance companies, especially if you are planning a long trip. If a little-known one-day company goes bankrupt and disappears during your trip, you may be in big trouble.

Think again about the expediency of issuing a policy if the company does not have a partner in the intended country of residence. Remember: a good insurance policy will make you feel safe away from home.